Fr. Ashit Toppo –
Kurkuria: Endless rampage by a wild elephant has been going on for two consecutive days in Kurkuriya village, a small village in Lapung block in Ranchi District of Jharkhand State.
On Monday, the elephant broke into the kitchen of the school and ate up the food items kept for the children. At about 11 at night, a wild elephant smashed the iron gate and the door of the priests’ residence, entered the kitchen and ate up the items. At that time, a priest was working in the school and the other priest was fortunately not in the house. After this, the elephant went towards the Sisters Convent and after breaking the main gate, wall and a window from outside, devoured a sack of flour and a sack of rice kept in the house.
After about an hour, with the help of villagers, the elephant was was driven away. It has been learned from inquiries that this elephant is perhaps injured and according to the local people this elephant has also killed some people. There is an atmosphere of fear and panic among the people of the nearby villages and they are pleading for safety.
As soon as the information was received, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas visited the site and interacted with the priest, the sisters and the people. Bishop Theodore informed the local MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey over the phone. She is deeply concerned for the people and has already activated the mechanism to make the wild animal move away from the area and deep into the forest.